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SINGAPORE: It is a case of double happiness for MediaCorp artiste Huang Biren: Not only is 7 March her birthday, the actress also became a mummy for the second time when she gave birth to a baby girl the previous day.

Nobody had expected the delivery to be so fast (less than three hours), she said in a phone call from her hospital room on Thursday.

“My husband thought he could go and get a cup of coffee, but before he could go down, the midwife said I was already fully dilated.

“I also told my mum to go home because I thought it would take about five or six hours. But by the time she went back, the baby had arrived.”

Weighing 4kg and measuring 52cm, baby Janessa Quek was born at 10.08am at Thomson Medical Centre.

According to Huang, her seven-year-old son Justin picked the name from a book of baby names she and husband Adrian Quek were reading.

“We wanted one to start with ‘J’, like Justin’s, and he came in and picked up the book and said, ‘Hey, why don’t you name her Janessa’.

“And we were like, ‘Why didn’t we think of that?’ It means ‘God is gracious’, and Justin won’t allow anybody to change the name – he’s very proud he picked it.”

No Chinese name has been picked yet, she said, because her husband “wanted to see the baby’s face first”.

The winner of the coveted My Favourite Actress Award at last year’s Star Awards 25th Anniversary Show – the first recipient of the special award – felt that this birth was special because it was so close to her own birthday.

“My son’s birthday is also in March, we are all March babies,” said an obviously happy Huang.

“We were thinking that maybe she would be born on my birthday, because she was little overdue. But she obviously wanted her own birthday.” –

SINGAPORE: Huang Yiliang did it again – made another controversial speech involving former wife Lin Meijiao.

At Sunday night’s Star Awards, which were held at the St James Power Station for the first time, Yiliang won the Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in the drama Women of Times.

When he went on stage to accept the award, he said he wanted to give the award to Meijiao. In the same speech, he also thanked his current wife. It was a speech that raised eyebrows, not least due to the little-known fact that he has remarried.

In 2003, when he won the same award, Yiliang mentioned Meijiao in his thank-you speech, comparing her to a giraffe and saying her neck had grown from yearning for an award.

Meijiao was not present at Sunday night’s show.

Backstage, Yiliang lost his cool when quizzed him about the speech.

“Meijiao is more talented than me but she doesn’t have my luck,” he said. “I’ve always wanted her to win something so I’d like to give this award to her.”

He claimed he was simply voicing the wish of his daughter with Meijiao. He has been married for three years to Lily Liu.

“When I made that speech in 2003, I only had good intentions. I regret that it’s a joke that fell flat, I shouldn’t have made it.”

Visibly annoyed, he added: “Do you know how influential the media is? If you write bad stuff about me, that’s the end of me. Please spare me. I don’t have any bad intentions.”

Meanwhile, the Best Actor and Actress Awards were won by Li Nanxing and Ivy Lee, respectively, while Hong Huifang nabbed the Best Supporting Actress Award. Bryan Wong won Best Variety Show Host, while Kelvin Tan won Most Popular Newcomer.